Visakhapatnam, August 27, 2013: Swami Vivekananda's vision of oneness – of a universe inter-connected, inter-related and inter-dependent in all aspects – holds hope for India and the rest of the world and modern Indians should rediscover the ancient but ever-new principle of their land and propagate it for world peace, vice-president of Vivekananda Kendra at Kanyakumari Nivedita Bhide said.

Delivering a lecture here on Monday on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of the Swamiji, she said the motto of the celebrations was "Wake up India and enlighten the world" (Bharat Jago, Visw ko jagao). "It was the same motive and motto which inspired Swamiji to deliver the lecture in Chicago. He carried the eternal principles of the Sanatana Dharma to the world and made such a huge impact that the reverberations are felt to this day, and in the same spirit his message should be propagated now," she said.

She said the Vivekananda Rock Memorial was built by Eknathji Ranade and the Vivekananda Kendra was established to propagate the ideas and ideals of Swami Vivekananda. "There are 600 centres of the Vivekananda Kendra in the country and there is one in Hyderabad. For a state of Andhra Pradesh's size, we feel there should be more. We are trying to set up more centres on the occasion of Swamiji's 150th birth anniversary," she said and added that the Kendra was implementing 20 projects in the country.

Later, a book authored by her - Swami Vivekananda's vision and Indian womanhood - was released on the occasion. President of the reception committee K.V Satyanarayana, principal of Prism College Uma Bala,, and secretary S.V.S Murthi, also spoke.

Later, Nivedita Bhide interacted with the audience and answered their queries.

Source: The Hindu, August 27, 2013